Comments on: Your Copy Sucks: In Offense of Ellipses

By: Stop Using Ellipses « Dispatches from the Castle

Stop Using Ellipses « Dispatches from the Castle — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:58:12 +0000

[...] have commented on the abuse of ellipses. See for example, this great post on PR Breakfast Club, Your Copy Sucks: In Offense of Ellipses by TJ [...]

By: Your Copy Sucks: Punctuation Ruins Lives :PRBreakfastClub

Your Copy Sucks: Punctuation Ruins Lives :PRBreakfastClub — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:03:01 +0000

[...] or not, but at least they serve a purpose. I lobbied hard for parentheses in this fight, but then my unabashed hatred of ellipses was thrown in my face. But ellipses are stupid! ellipses are often misused and misunderstood, [...]

By: TJ Dietderich

TJ Dietderich — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:30:56 +0000

You're both charmingly incorrect. You're confusing individuality with something that has become so obscenely overused that it can no longer offer any insight into a person's real voice. If one wanted to set apart their personal writing, adding superfluous marks is not the way to do it.

By: TJ Dietderich

TJ Dietderich — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:30:56 +0000

By: PR Cog

PR Cog — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:59:15 +0000

What he said…

By: MSchechter

MSchechter — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:57:08 +0000

So I am not sure if we should agree to disagree or fight this out...

I tend to agree with you if I am writing copy for our company, but the
ellipses has become a part of how I express myself when writing my own
thoughts.

Is it a dead fish? Maybe, but I know if I ever copyedited the ellipses out
and put the colon in I'd be going against my own grain and to some extent
sacrificing my voice.

If you worry abou the floppy and ineffectual, I am way more concerned with
bad writing than bad grammar. If the content is good, the author should get
away with a few bad habits, especially those that help put a fingerprint on
the text. If taking away the ellipses has a chance of containing Cogs (or
anyone's) voice, I vote to keep them in.

By: TwittLink - Your headlines on Twitter

TwittLink - Your headlines on Twitter — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:45:53 +0000

[...] Tweets about this great post on TwittLink.com [...]

By: TJ Dietderich

TJ Dietderich — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:27:06 +0000

See, lots of people tend to think that using ellipses makes the message more readable, but what it actually does is slow the eye down. And not in a good “pause and collect yourself” way. In a “forget what the two separated fragments have to do with each other” sort of way.

By: LAprGuy

LAprGuy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:46:10 +0000

I'm with you in spirit — and definitely in the more “professional” (and by that I mean printed in ink forever) setting — but I find myself using ellipses similar to how Jeanne does (I think): As a way to insert a sort of personal “voice” into written e-mails and other postings, as in, Hey, I'm just typing this as I think of it.

I also think it does help readability sometimes, when not overused.

And now I must go work …

By: TJ Dietderich

TJ Dietderich — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:04:12 +0000

So true! Ellipses are wishy-washy little milquetoasts!